Eagles Head to Big Sky Conference Championships

Feb 22, 2010

After competing in eight meets, EWU travels to the Brick
Breeden Fieldhouse in Montana

After competing in eight meets, the Eastern Washington
University track and field teams will travel to the Brick Breeden
Fieldhouse in Bozeman, Mont., Friday and Saturday (Feb. 26-27) for
the Big Sky Conference Indoor Championships.

A total of 44 EWU student-athletes - - 22 women and 22 men -
will try to earn all-conference honors by placing in the top three
in their events.

Last year, Eastern's men had their best-ever finish by placing
third with 81.5 points and the women were seventh with 48 points.
Northern Arizona won both the men's and women's titles.

The meet will begin Friday morning with the men's heptathlon,
including EWU's Kersee Lind, who finished sixth in
2009. The regular portion of the meet begins Friday at 1:30 p.m.
with field events, and running events begin at 4 p.m. On Saturday,
field events begin at 11:30 a.m. and running events start at 1:55
p.m.

Adam Stewart, the 2009 Big Sky Conference
indoor champion in the high jump, currently ranks fourth in the
league with a mark of 6-8. The 2009 BSC outdoor champion,
Stephen Praast, ranks third with a jump of 6-8
1/4. Currently ranked first is Emilio Hernandez of Sacramento State
with a jump of 6-10 1/4.

The 2009 conference indoor shot put champion, David
Howard, ranks second in the conference with a mark of 55-7
1/2. Northern Arizona's Javier Villarreal ranks first with a throw
of 60-10 1/2.

Ben Cogdill currently ranks third in the pole
vault with a vault of 16-1 3/4. He finished third at the conference
championships in 2009. Currently first in the conference is Michael
Arnold of Idaho State with a vault of 17-1 1/2.

Looking for her first conference indoor title, Nicole
Luckenbach currently ranks first in the weight throw with
a school-record throw of 61-11 3/4. She broke Jamie Martin's school
record of 60-9 1/2 set in 2002.

Luchenbach's throw was 5 1/2 inches over the provisional
qualifying standard for the NCAA Championships of 61-6 1/4.
Currently second in conference is Nicole Elliott from Northern
Arizona with a throw of 60-5.

Currently tied for first in conference in the 55 meters is
Krystal Deyo with a time of 7.06. She is tied with
Portland State's Geronne Black.

Tied for second in the long jump is Shene Davis
with a school-record jump of 19-8 1/4. She broke Deyo's record of
19-2 3/4 set at the 2009 conference championships. Davis is tied
with Sacramento State's Ericka Violett and Northern Arizona's Amber
Anderson is first with a mark of 19-11 3/4.

Erica Chaney ranks fourth in the shot put with
a mark of 48-0 3/4. Chaney finished second in the shot put at the
2008 indoor championships. Amanda Murphy of Montana State is in
first with a throw of 49-1 3/4.

Chelsi Friese, who finished second at the 2009
indoor championships, is currently ranked sixth in the pole vault
with a mark of 12-2 1/2. First is Kylee Gleason of Idaho State with
a vault of 12-9.